Lamoral, Count of Egmont

Lamoral, Count of Egmont (18 November 1522-5 June 1568) was a Dutch statesman in the Spanish Netherlands whose 1568 execution led to the outbreak of the Dutch Revolt.

Biography
Lamoral d'Egmont was born in Ellezelles, Belgium on 18 November 1522, the son of John IV of Egmont. Lamoral received a military education in Spain, and he served in the Spanish Army during the Italian Wars, defeating the French at Saint-Quentin in 1557 and Gravelines in 1558. In 1559, King Philip II of Spain appointed him Stadtholder of Flanders and Artois, and he served in Philip's Council of State for Flanders and Artois. Lamoral was a devout Catholic and was an opponent of the iconoclasm of 1567, but Lamoral, the Count of Horn, and William the Silent protested against the implementation of the Inquisition in the Spanish Netherlands. In 1568, Horn and Egmont were both beheaded at the Grand Place in Brussels for "heresy", and his death helped to spark the Dutch revolt.